Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1887-07-01
MIR. NYE AS HE APPEARED ON THE PLATFORM

MIR. NYE AS HE APPEARED ON THE PLATFORM.
assessed us and crushed US beneath the
iron heel of the despot.
Now, wherever the starry banner
hangs out to greet the gentle breeze, all,
all are free. Little do we know to-day,
here in America, what it Is to suffer for
freedom Liberty does a good business
here in the United States now, and the
man who runs out of freedom shows that
he is shiftless man and poor provlder.
Only a little over century ago we dared
not go out after dark without chilled
steel corset, for fear that the maroon col
ored children of the forest might let the
pale, shimmering moonlight in among our
vital organs by means of their crude tom
ahawks Then life was indeed uncertain
and disagreeable. People remained at
home rather than return to their houses
with holes in themselves and wildly dis
heveled brains.
Now q man can start out and go any
where if he will pay his fare.
And so we are marching on. What
grand stride it is from the despotism OF q
century ago, to the long and short haul OF
to-dayi What mighty leap from the bar
barism of a hundred years ago, to the glor-
ious sunlight of freedom which we enjoy
nowl
Where once the slow-going OK team ana
Belcher box wagon crept through the
wilderness, liable to be scattered over the
greensward at any moment by the yelllng
Injun, now the patient newspaper man, the
member of Congress and the Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court, with their
coats over their arms, toll along the level
sweep of railroad which they assisted to
build by means of their land grants and
moral encouragement looking ever and
anon over their shoulders for the approach
of the yelling modern lnjun.
Times have indeed changed in the past
century. A hundred years ago whisky
was sold at forty cents per gallon. and
every other man you met was a statesman.
Now you have to pay fifteen cents for
enough whisky to wet the bottom OF 9
small tumbler and there hasn't been 6
speech made in the House of Representa-
tives for three years that was listened te
by any body but the stenographer e"
So liberty, while enlarging her field, has
not always ameliorated the condition OF
mankind. We are prone to boast over the
enormous mass of freedom which we have
accumulated here in America, and yet the
freedom of the press has been greatly i'm
paired, if may be allowed that expires.
sion.
cent laws. A year ago l held up my head
and mingled with class of men who to
day refuse to recognize me. They were
then, and are now, of course, men OF
wealth and social position; but so am
allude to the railway conductors of the
United States.
A year ago knew them from New York
to San Francisco and associated with them
frequently, allowing myself to be drawn
forward into the smoliing-car to mingle
with them and visit pro and con.
But what do l find to-day? l find the
same men running on the same trains, but
they are arrogant, naughty and reserved
One of them placed me on side-track last
spring in the night, in the midst of pitt
less storm, because l tried to renew for
mer acquaintance with him, and ride into
Chicago
He said thatI could not ride on my ac
quaintance with him by no means, but that
would soon be riding on the small of my
back if did not pay my fare to the city.
And so Iremained that night in the midst
of some ancient ruins called Monmouth
[ was not acquainted in Monmouth, and ]
had no business there. Nobody ever had
any business there that l ever heard of,
and yet l remained there through what
was left of that terrible night.
i often think that our forefathers did
not suffer any more hardships than we
do, and if had fitted myself for it L would
lust as soon be forefather as to be the
pampered child of wealth that am to-day
BILL NYE.